Peace Be with You | John 20:19-31
April 11, 2021 | 10:45 a.m.
Second Sunday of Easter
Communion will be celebrated during this service. If you plan to visit with us, please read our communion statement.
READINGS
Psalm 148:1-14
Acts 4:32-35
1 John 1:1-2:2
John 20:19-31
Message presented by Rev. Frank C. Ruffatto
+Points to ponder
- What is your greatest fear? How can that fear get in the way of your relationship with God?
- How does Jesus overcome our fear(s)?
- What is your reaction to the account of Thomas and His insistence on ‘seeing before believing?’
- What impact does the fact that John expressly says that his book is written so that we would believe have on your life of faith in Christ?
+Sermon Transcript
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father, and our Lord and King, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Let us Pray: Almighty Father, You have given Your only Son to die for our sins and to rise again for our justification: grant us so to put away the leaven of fear and anxiety that we may always look to Jesus who is the Living Word, Amen.
Reports of Jesus’ resurrection, in and of themselves, did not change much for the disciples. They had heard about Mary’s encounter with Him in the garden. They had learned about His visit with the Emmaus disciples. They most likely had even heard from Peter and John about their race to the empty tomb. But there they were, on the evening of the first Easter Sunday, hiding behind locked doors. Why? In a word, ‘fear.’ They were afraid.
“There is an old Arab tale about Pestilence overtaking a caravan on the desert way to Baghdad. ‘And pray,’ said the chieftain of the caravan, ‘what are you going to do in Baghdad?’ To which Pestilence replied, ‘I shall claim 5,000 lives.’ Actually, some 50,000 died in Baghdad. Later, when meeting Pestilence again, the chieftain said to him, ‘But you were unfair. You promised to take only 5,000.’ Pestilence replied, ‘I kept my word. I took only 5,000. The other 45,000 died of fear.’”
Fear is a powerful force. In the case of the disciples, it was not unreasonable. Jesus, at the hands of an angry mob, was railroaded into a scandalous death. He had warned His disciples the prior evening that they should expect nothing less for themselves: “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” There would be no ‘quietly’ slipping by unnoticed. Peter could attest to that after his three-fold denial of Jesus.
But we know fear too. Even in this age of modern medicine, pandemic looms; and let us be honest, even if not unreasonably so, we have been afraid. There are reports that anxiety prescriptions are off the charts this year – and not merely because of pandemic. A regular offender is the uncertainty we have regarding the future. I confess, in our bout with the current pestilence, the isolation demanded by politicians and celebrity bureaucrats has me feeling uneasy about how Redeemer is going to fare into the future. And admittedly, that kind of worry can bring shame and more worry that one is letting others down. Fear is pernicious and is not the way God wants us to live.
The disciples, isolated in a locked room, fueled by their fear, were about to get a dose of live medicine for their anxiety.
‘After His resurrection, Jesus more fully manifested His divine attributes. Thus, though still completely human, He did not allow physical barriers, [like a locked door], to keep Him from revealing Himself to His disciples.’ And so, John does not say that they saw Him enter, instead “Jesus came and stood among them.” And as He stood with them, the Prince of Peace says to those fear-addled disciples, “Peace be with you.” In His presence with His disciples, Jesus gives the peace that He speaks. Jesus shows them His hands and His side and in recognition of the resurrected Jesus, they were filled with joy. And beloved, joy and fear are not compatible.
Fear has power, but not in the presence of the resurrection power of Jesus. In their recognition of the risen Lord, the disciples were moved from fear to joy. And so, Jesus reiterates what He wants for them – what He is giving them; He says to them again, “Peace be with you.” This is not a mere platitude or friendly greeting; again, Jesus is giving to them the peace that He speaks.
This peace is not for fostering a languid complacency. The disciples had been under training for the last several years with Jesus. Jesus has completed His mission and He is giving His mission to them to carry it forward. He tells them, “As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you.”And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
“The once-crucified Jesus appears to His disciples, commissioning them for their work and equipping them with the Holy Spirit. We Christians have received the most precious treasure on earth – the Gospel of forgiveness” which we are called to boldly proclaim in the face of what ever this world, our flesh, and the devil throws at us to try and frustrate this good news.
So, after the rejoicing replaces the fear, there comes the sending. As the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sent His disciples – of every age. He sent them to do many things: To care for the sick, to teach the young, to warn those who err, to share with those in need, and to bring back those who wander.
And so too for us, beloved – when we hear the words, “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son (T), and of the Holy Spirit,” Jesus is speaking His peace to and for you. He brings us from guilt and fear to joy; and then, He sends us to continue His apostolic mission.
“Not far from New York is a cemetery with a grave that has just one word on the headstone: ‘FORGIVEN.’ There is nothing else – no name, no date of birth, no date of death, no word of praise for the departed – just the one word, ‘FORGIVEN.’ And yet what greater word could possible be written above our own last resting place? To the word, ‘FORGIVEN’ I would want to add just one other: ‘FORGIVING.’ ‘Forgiven’ and ‘forgiving’ belong together, just as [Jesus] placed them together when He taught us to pray: ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’”
So, back to our Gospel lesson, and we find the disciples then sharing their experience with Thomas – who was not present on the occasion we have just observed – they labored to relay all the accounts of the sightings of the risen Jesus and that they, themselves had laid eyes on their risen Lord. But Thomas balks and says, “Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe.”
Eight days later, Jesus accommodates Thomas while he was with the disciples again behind locked doors. And like before “Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then He said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see My hands; and put out your hand and place it in My side. Do not disbelieve but believe.”
“Jesus speaks to Thomas as though He himself had heard every word Thomas had uttered when making his demands.” How unnerving that must have been amid Jesus’ speaking of peace to His disciples. But here Jesus is providing for all the disciples ‘many infallible proofs’ of His resurrection – of what He had told them was going to occur before holy week crashed into their lives.
Now, the disciples on the first meeting had examined Jesus just as closely and He would not let Thomas fail to do it. Thomas was made as strong a witness as the other disciples.
John, in his epistle captures it this way: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life … that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
So, in response to Jesus’ command to Thomas to touch the nail marks and put his hand in Jesus’ side, “Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”
Jesus gently chides him, seemingly for our benefit: “Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
John rounds out his account – his relaying of the Gospel for those who would come later – for me and for you. He says, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”
A Bible translator for the Agta people living in the northern Philippines spoke of the difficulty of translating the text because some of the concepts were so completely foreign to them – like Hebrews 4:12 – ‘The Word of God is living and potent.’ “Depending upon the context, the Agta word madagat can mean stinging, venomous, or potent. A poisonous snake is madagat, but so are some medicines that can heal. [A] translation assistant explained his understanding of how the Word of God is potent: ‘It depends upon how we approach it. If we disregard it, it is like a poisonous snake. But if we live by it, its potency is like medicine.”
Beloved, even today, the Living Word Jesus comes to us with His presence as potent as ever giving to us in His Holy Supper the medicine for our fear, for our anxieties, for our sinfulness. He gives His very body and blood for us to see, and touch, and taste that we would hear clearly from Him, “Peace be with you.” Amen.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Some sermon study helps from Peter Nafzger, Ph.D. at 1517.org and Rev. Warren W. Graff, STM (Concordia Pulpit Resources – CPH, Missouri) Volume 31 Part 2, Year B